An Afternoon Walk
by Amber Moon
Summary: Yeah...this is a story i wrote upon request and I dunno...suggest whatever you want, I think it still needs work but it's kind of nice...


Title: An Afternoon Walk  
  
Author: Me…  
  
Disclaimers: Inuyasha and Co. don't belong to me. Bummer.  
  
Notes: So…I haven't written in such a long time…bleh…and I just found out from my dad that I won't have the computer (period) for the entire summer and so…um…all my updates might have to wait for awhile *waits for audience to sigh tragically…hears only the crickets* yeah well…gomen…and finally got this done…so…um comment, I know it needs work. Arigato.  
  
An Afternoon Walk  
  
Kagome wandered into the forest, having left a note that she had gone looking for more herbs to add to Kaede's collection, who was gone treating some local children from mild cases of pneumonia. Sango and Miroku were checking out a rumor of a Shikon no Tama shard nearby and Inuyasha and Shippou were doing their own things in the forest nearby.  
  
She held a wicker basket in one hand and wild flowers in the other. Her face was alight with joy for having some time alone to herself and not having to go on an exhausting hunt for shikon shards. Carefully, she placed the wild flowers in the bottom of the basket, saving them for later to decorate Kaede's hut. Kagome looked around to spot a patch of wild mint. "Mmm! This will smell wonderful when they're dried and prepared for tea!" exclaiming happily, she moved over to the patch, kneeling gingerly on the ground and plucking the choicest leaves. She took one leaf and crushed it between her finger and thumb, inhaling the wild and sharp scent of mint, letting the odor fill her head with its sweet fragrance. Letting go of the crushed leaf, she moved on, looking for more to put in her basket.  
  
"Funny. I feel like a homemaker doing this. But it's so much fun and carefree. I could live like this forever." Standing up and brushing the grass and dirt off her knees, she walked on, enjoying the quiet sighing of the breeze sweeping past her and overwhelming her senses with the beauty of everything around her.  
  
  
  
She walked farther on, deeper into the woods and removed her shoes and socks, letting her toes wiggle in the lush grass and she laughed with giddiness, happy to have some alone time to herself. Spotting a patch of thyme, she knelt down and plucked the choicest parts, occasionally crushing bits between her fingers and relishing the crisp smell that the herb offered. Sniffing the thyme between her fingers, her senses perked up and her body stiffened, a cold and malicious shiver running down her back. Feeling the cold run through her body felt like she had just downed a gallon of ice water, the icy chill running through her veins and freezing her in place.  
  
Dropping the thyme in her hand and cautiously standing up, she walked on a little farther, forgetting her shoes where she had left them but was still clutching the basket with an unusual calm grip, feeling the cold presence continue to follow her. 'Stay calm. That's all that matters. If you let whatever is behind you know that you know it's there, it'll only get worse. Maybe whatever will lose interest? Breathe, Higurashi, breathe.'  
  
Heart pounding in her chest and finding it very difficult to follow her own advice, Kagome picked up her pace; hoping that it didn't show to whatever was following her. She tried to listen to everything around her and could barely pick out, among all the natural noises, a slight dragging of limbs several meters behind her. "Ka-kuthunk. Ka-kuthunk-shhhhh. Ka-kuthunk. Ka-kuthunk-shhhhh." the limbs made. The noise was eerie and frightening. Her teeth were clenched together so tight that her head pounded in angry thuds, asking for the relief of some pain medication. Or just the relief of whatever was behind her to lose interest and leave her alone.  
  
Kagome couldn't get the noise out of her head and she could feel the panic rise in her throat, cutting of all passage for air and she trembled with the effort to not run away, knowing that if she did, she'd be caught and probably eaten before she could say "Come and eat me."  
  
Unconsciously, she brought a hand up to cover the Shikon no Tama shard that hung on a chain around her neck. 'How stupid of me to bring this with me without someone to protect me. And I didn't even bring my bow and arrows. Dammit.' she thought fiercely, cursing herself for her stupidity.  
  
The noise behind her picked up the pace, faster than her own, at last noticing that its prey had picked up the pace. She moved quicker, hearing the dragging sound behind her shuffle along, knowing now that she knew it was there. Dropping the basket of herbs and losing all reasoning that she'd had previously, she began to run for safety, screaming at the top of her lungs "Inuyasha! Help!"  
  
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Shippou dropped the top that he had been practicing with and perked his ears up, towards Kagome's direction. Hearing a petrified and curdling scream, he dropped to his hands and feet and began to run to wherever the victim was.  
  
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Inuyasha could feel the deer quiver in the anticipation of running and he stopped from moving too close and scaring his prey away. A few moments passed and he could sense and visibly see the deer relax, sensing that its hunter was gone or had at least lost interest. Dipping its head down, the deer took a timid sip of the water but kept its eyes open for anymore danger. Moving with a graceful stealth, Inuyasha loomed up behind his prey when he heard a shriek of terror from far away and his blood turned to ice, freezing inside him. His foot stepped on a twig and the snap resonated through himself and the deer. The animal froze and then remembered it had legs, running off, without a second thought, to safety.  
  
Inuyasha stood still, having forgotten about his prey, and listened for more. His heart pounded painfully in his chest, fear taking a hold of the organ and squeezing quite painfully. Another scream echoed through his skull, even though it was miles away, and he began to sprint, fearing and knowing that it had been Kagome screaming.  
  
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Kagome felt her legs begin to slow down and drag behind, making it harder for her to run away from the demon that was running after her and possibly the Shikon no Tama shard she carried with her. Gritting her teeth in frustration and desperation, she willed her body to keep running until someone came to her rescue. 'Don't quit on me now. Just a little more. Just a little more.'  
  
Another voice inside Kagome's head decided to perk up and speak its opinion. "Just a little more what, Kagome? Where are we running to? I don't see any plan forming in the back of your head dear."  
  
Kagome shoved the voice away, knowing it still spoke the truth. 'I'm so screwed if somebody doesn't come and help me. Of all the days to forget my bow and arrows! Arrgh!"  
  
To make matters worse, her breathe was beginning to shorten and the condescending voice had decided to come back after the brief interlude and piped up again, "No use crying over spilt milk."  
  
Kagome ran on, her throat tightening in pain, her breathe coming out in ragged huffs and tears of fear pricked at the corner of her eyes. 'Don't cry. Whatever you do, don't break down and cry. And don't look back.'  
  
Of course, whenever someone says that to themselves, they can't resist the temptation and look back. Kagome's eyes widened in horror at what was following her. It looked to be one of Naraku's puppets. The thing had numerous heads placed along the arms and shoulders of the body, each mouth gnashing in the eagerness for a part of the shard that Kagome carried and a part of Kagome. Each head looked to be a skeleton's because the cheek bones jutted out, the eyes were sunken in and the skin was stretched tight over the skull, creating a cadaverous and haunting look for each one. The body was made from a rotting corpse of an ogre. One leg was half rotted away and was the cause of the noise that she had heard previously.  
  
Feeling a violent tremble of fear begin to overtake her body, she pushed down on the emotion and gripped it in half fear, mentally telling it to go away so she could continue running and perhaps save her skin.  
  
A fierce shout was heard behind her and she chanced it again to look behind her what was happening. She spotted Shippou clawing fiercely at one of the heads, yelling obscenities and shouting at Kagome to keep running. The demon ogre grabbed Shippou by his tail and flung him away; caring only that Kagome had the shards and looked like a tasty treat.  
  
Kagome let out a hoarse shout for Shippou and looked for where he had been thrown. She dodged most of the demon's decaying claws and arms, but was hit aside the head by a flaying arm and was thrown to where Shippou had been thrown but she didn't find anyone there. Turning around in pain, the demon was towering over her, the heads infuriated that their prey was still alive. Clasping its hands together, the ogre brought its hands high over its head and swung them down, aiming for Kagome. Throwing her arms up in front of her, feeling her body resist in the pain of moving her battered body, knowing it was useless, she hid behind her hands, praying that Shippou was ok and that it would be a merciful death.  
  
She waited, 'Any minute now, I'm going to die.'  
  
Opening an eye, she looked to see that she wasn't dead but there was a bright pink bubble floating in front of her. Her eyes popped open and she watched helplessly as Shippou took the hit for her. Tears streaming down her eyes, Kagome cried out for Shippou. "Shippou! Run!"  
  
Shippou winced in pain as the puppet of Naraku's pounded at Shippou's bubble form, hitting him in annoyance that the pink bubble was blocking his Shikon Shard and his meal.  
  
The hits began to accumulate and Shippou felt himself become bruised and become weak, his body not as strong as full grown youkai's would be. Feeling himself begin to weaken from the assault, Shippou cried out to Kagome, "Kagome! I can't hold him off much longer, go get help!" Shippou, having averted his attention from Naraku's puppet for a moment, was caught off guard when the puppet took a different course of action and brought both decomposing arms down on top of Shippou's form and knocked the poor kitsune unconscious.  
  
Kagome watched and shuddered in horror as the puppet attempted to laugh in its own crude way at Shippou's misfortune and then directed its attention at her, leering at her Shikon no Tama shard and its meal.  
  
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Inuyasha felt his lungs begin to burn, his breathe coming in ragged huffs. His ears listened acutely for the sounds of the struggle that was just ahead of him and he pushed himself more, trying not to slow down and save Kagome.  
  
A shout was heard and it sounded as if it had come from Shippou. Silence came after the shout, accompanied by a bone chilling laugh that made the hair stand up on the back of Inuyasha. Pushing himself even harder, he made his way over the hill and took in the scene in only a matter of seconds, noticing Shippou lay unconscious and that Kagome was in the path of destruction of the puppet. Vehemently whispering, "Naraku", he raced to get in front of Kagome, who was weaponless and therefore defenseless.  
  
Moving with an uncommon grace, he unsheathed the Tetsusaiga and bared his fangs, defending himself, Kagome and Shippou. Swinging the blade over and down, he managed to cut off one rotting limb. Inuyasha bared his fangs and sneered, "Not so tough now, are you?" The puppet cried out in pain but the many heads smiled gruesomely and waved its other arm  
  
Kagome, looking up and past Inuyasha, saw a glowing spot in one of the many heads that was on the elbow of the last arm. Tears of relief sprang to her eyes but she swallowed the lump that had risen in her throat and shouted hoarsely to Inuyasha, "The head, Inuyasha! On the elbow!"  
  
Inuyasha moved and swung at the said head but Naraku's puppet, knowing what Inuyasha had in mind, moved in time to save itself and the shard. Knowing it had done enough damage for now and didn't have a chance of winning at the moment; the puppet was surrounded by Naraku's hornets from hell and was carried off.  
  
Kagome, feeling even more faint from the knock in the head, laid down in the grass and closed her eyes, shutting off the pictures and images that were swimming in her blurry vision.  
  
Inuyasha sheathed the Tetsusaiga and gingerly picked Kagome up and placed Shippou's unconscious form with Kagome. Inuyasha trailed a finger down her cheek and looked worriedly at her, whispering, "Kagome…" He hurried off to the village and Kaede's care.  
  
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Kagome woke up and felt her body ache in various places, a dull ache settling in her head. Turning her head gingerly, she saw Kaede smiling gently at her. "It's about time you woke up. You gave us quite a scare Kagome. You woke up occasionally but only muttered a few words and went back to sleep. Inuyasha has been moping and worrying since last night when you blacked out. Here, let me go get Inuyasha."  
  
Kaede left and Inuyasha emerged inside the hut with Shippou in his arms, the latter rubbing his eyes from only waking up a few moments ago. Shippou smiled weakly at her. Inuyasha looked ready to start shouting obscenities for Kagome being quite stupid and going off alone but Kagome, remembering all that Shippou and Inuyasha had done for her, smiled at them and held her finger up to her lips. "Arigato Shippou-chan. And Inuyasha." She reached out to kiss him quietly on the forehead.  
  
Shippou smiled faintly at her and closed his eyes, still tired and bruised. Asleep in only a matter of moments, Kagome followed his example and closed her eyes, glad that everything was alright and nobody had seriously gotten hurt.  
  
Inuyasha looked upon the two and whispered, his eyes faintly glistening with emotion, "Arigato Shippou, arigato…"  
  
The End 


End file.
